IGN has revealed a video offering the first lengthy look of Sonic Frontiers gameplay, and it looks very much like Sonic the Hedgehog got teleported into the open world of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, even down to the style of architecture on display. However, there are still many rails to grind on (with a tricks system maybe?), in addition to boosters, springs, and even walls to scale or race up.
The video is a genuinely hypnotic fusion of Sonic and Breath of the Wild, as Sonic almost never stops running across huge open environments. If the idea was to present a sense of scale and speed, the Sonic Frontiers gameplay reveal video has succeeded. Perhaps the most intriguing moments in the video are the slower ones though. For instance, Sonic solves a puzzle by stepping on glowing squares in the right order. And as shown yesterday in a teaser, Sonic can circle around objects and enemies to trigger some sort of effect on them.
If the gameplay in Sonic Frontiers can strike a balance between gloriously fast open-world exploration and more methodical moments that really take advantage of Sonic’s skill set, Sega just might finally have a 3D winner on its hands. There does appear to be some pop-in that needs to be addressed though.
Sonic Frontiers will launch on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X | S, and PC later this year.
